The term "Broca's aphasia" refers to a pathology of a neurological nature. The main symptom of the disease is the loss of communication skills. In other words, a person stops speaking and understanding human speech. Currently, there is an effective treatment regimen for the disease, but the prognosis directly depends on how timely the relatives delivered the victim to a medical facility.
Development mechanism
Medics distinguish several language systems:
- Phonological. It is responsible for processing the acoustic signal in the brain. In other words, her task is to analyze the words she heard.
- Morphological. This system analyzes language combinations.
- Syntactic. Responsible for the formation of logical speech, in which words are arranged sequentially.
- Semantic. This is a lexical system.
Normally, all these functions are regulated by Broca's center. It is located in the brain. Underunder the influence of various unfavorable factors, the work of the motor speech center is disrupted. In other words, a person simply ceases to understand words and speak. In this case, it is customary to talk about the development of Broca's motor aphasia syndrome.
Reasons
In most cases, the pathology in question is the result of a stroke. Damage to the speech center occurs after a hemorrhage in the brain, more precisely, in its left hemisphere.
In addition, the causes of Broca's aphasia can be:
- Neoplasms of both benign and malignant nature.
- Tranio-cerebral injuries.
- Alzheimer's disease.
- Encephalitis.
- Abscesses.
- Leukoencephalitis.
- Pick's disease.
Also, Broca's aphasia is sometimes the result of brain surgery.
There are certain risk factors that greatly increase the risk of developing the disease. These include:
- Old age.
- Hereditary predisposition.
- Clogged cerebral vessels with atherosclerotic plaques.
- Hypertension.
- Rheumatic heart defects.
- Past past transistorized ischemic attacks.
It is important to know that Broca's aphasia is an acquired disease. There is a loss of precisely formed speech.
Clinical manifestations
Symptoms of aphasiaBroca are quite specific. The main signs of pathology:
- Slow speech. The patient pronounces words with difficulty. He uses a minimal set of words to express his thoughts, while getting tired very quickly.
- Anomie. This term refers to a pathological condition in which it is difficult for the patient to name objects.
- Agrammatism. A person with Broca's aphasia cannot form sentences correctly.
- The impossibility of repetition. Patients sometimes understand what they are told. But at the same time, it is extremely difficult for them to repeat the words they heard, almost impossible.
- Awareness of the problem. There are several forms of aphasia. With most of them, a person is firmly convinced that his speech is correct. With Broca's aphasia, the patient understands that he has problems.
In some cases, the pathology may be accompanied by neurological symptoms:
- Inability to consciously control the muscles of the face and mouth.
- Unilateral paresis. In other words, the feeling of weakness is felt only in the left or right side of the face.
- Hemiplegia. This is a condition that paralyzes one side of the body.
In addition, patients lose the ability not only to speak, but also to read and write.
Diagnosis
If there are signs of pathology, a person must be taken to a medical facility. Diagnosis of a disease implies an assessment of the patient's condition according to the following criteria:
- Fluency of speech. In the presence ofpathology, she is tongue-tied and extremely slow.
- Understanding. It is very difficult to evaluate this indicator, since any incorrect answers may be due to the presence of difficulties with pronunciation.
- Repetition. The doctor needs to understand how the patient is able to assimilate the information he hears. In addition, it is important for a specialist to know whether a person can reproduce these words. The ability to repeat in Broca's aphasia is impaired.
- Memory for the names of objects. In most cases, patients are unable to pronounce certain names.
- Automatic sequences. This is one of the linguistic skills, consisting in the pronunciation of sequences that are well known. A prime example is naming the months of the year in order.
Based on the results of the study, the doctor makes a diagnosis and determines the tactics of managing the patient.
Treatment
It directly depends on the severity of the pathology. In some cases, drug therapy and surgery are indicated.
But in most cases a corrective action is sufficient. His tasks:
- Restore and improve your writing and speaking skills.
- Help the patient re-engage with society.
- Improve the quality of human life.
Broca's aphasia is treated by speech therapists. If necessary, the patient is referred for a consultation with a neuropsychologist.
The corrective action scheme includes the following items:
- Training of memory, calculations, reasoning, attention.
- Regular performance of exercises aimed at developing memory for the names and names of objects.
- Speech training. The patient is re-taught to speak.
- Gradual increase in sentence length.
This is only a small part of the work that is being done with patients suffering from Broca's aphasia. The task of doctors is to identify violations that have arisen and correct them.
In closing
The term "Broca's aphasia" refers to a pathological condition characterized by an almost complete loss of communication skills. A person with a formed speech loses the ability to speak and perceive other people's words. In some cases, understanding is preserved, but the patient is not able to reproduce the heard sounds. In most cases, the cause of Broca's aphasia is an ischemic stroke. When the first signs of illness appear, the patient must be taken to a medical facility.
